How to Start Selling Products on Amazon

Amazon selling is a consideration for anyone looking to sell products online and dive into eCommerce. Tens of millions of customers shop Amazon every day. After setting up an Amazon Seller account and creating a few product listings, a business has seemingly endless potential. 

If you're a business owner launching their first product line, it's gold. Starting to sell on Amazon involves taking a few essential steps and making key decisions. Here's how.

Use Market Research to Choose Products

If you want to start selling on Amazon but don't know what yet, rely on market research. Look at your competitors as well. See trending products. Look for products with a healthy profit margin, preferably with weak competition.

Third Party Amazon Fulfillment Services

The alternative is using third-party Amazon fulfillment services. Amazon handles product packaging, labelling, and shipping. They store your product for you and ship it for an additional fee. This allows you to scale your business fast, grow, and make money without logistics, supply chain management, inventory storage, and fulfilling orders.

Define What Selling Strategy You Will Use

There are many common and popular ways to source and sell products on Amazon. Buy something below market value, sell it at a higher price, and profit from the difference. 

Source white-label products to sell with appealing branding. Use private-label products to market and sell under your brand. Use dropshipping on Amazon, where you never have to keep products in inventory, and a third party does everything.

Register for an Amazon Seller Account

There are two types of Amazon Seller accounts. For $1.49 per sale, individuals and those just starting are recommended for any business selling under 30 items a month. Professional, for $29.99 per month, involves no cost per sale and is best if you plan to make thousands of monthly sales.

Do It Yourself

You can opt to fulfill orders yourself, which involves handling all inventory management and shipping aspects. You store and ship yourself. It creates more work for you. However, you can still benefit from Amazon's trusted network of shipping partners and excellent shipping rates.

Write Down Your KPI Targets

Amazon sellers must meet certain standards to continue selling on the site. This means having an order defect rate of less than 1%, a pre-fulfillment cancellation rate of less than 2.5%, and a late shipment rate of less than 4%. As you launch and sell, keep tabs on these metrics.

Create Your Product Listings

Create your product listing by matching an existing listing or creating a new one. Be sure to have your product ID ready. If you have an Individual account, you must add your products one at a time. A Professional account, however, can bulk-add multiple products, which is advantageous if you have many to add.

Write Product Titles and Descriptions

Your Amazon product titles and descriptions should be keyword-optimized, carefully researched, and appropriately targeted to your customers. Be descriptive. Ensure they are written to the highest standard and structured for easy reading, such as using bullet points and short paragraphs.

Have Premium HD Images

You can't sell on Amazon without high-quality images. Even embedding some video can be very beneficial, demonstrating how a product works or its benefits. These are both essentials in maximizing Amazon sales.

Launch Your Amazon Store

After your first product listing is written and all the media is included, it's time to close it up, publish, and launch. You officially launched your store when your first product was released, so congrats!

Advertise Your Amazon Listings

Just because you have products posted does not mean they will receive thousands of clicks instantaneously. You must advertise. This can be done with sponsored products for individual listings, sponsored brands to showcase your brand or using your Amazon store to attract clicks.

Engage in Non-Amazon Advertising

Invest in branding yourself and marketing on non-Amazon platforms. Use social media marketing to reach new users on different platforms. Advertise on Facebook. Post on the forums. Consider influencer marketing to reach new customer base segments if you have an innovative product that requires explanation and awareness.

Manage Your Inventory Correctly

Ensure you have enough inventory to fulfill orders. Anticipate sales beforehand and order accordingly, ensuring that there is no delay.

Amazon Seller Central is how you manage your selling account. You can add products here, update inventory, manage payments, and more. Use Seller Central to adjust your strategy and execute key initiatives to sell more on Amazon.